Officer on drug supply charges

IN ANOTHER blow to the reputation of the Maryborough Correctional Centre, a corrective services officer has been suspended from duty for allegedly supplying dangerous drugs.

Police escorted the 34-year-old employee from the prison on Monday before charging him with two counts of supplying dangerous drugs. He was released on bail to appear in the Maryborough Magistrates Court mid-next month.

The arrest of the prison officer comes on the back of a disastrous six months for the prison.

In December it made interstate headlines when it was revealed officers had seized a home-made tattoo gun, ink, a used syringe and a piece of sharpened metal during a routine search of cells.

Less than a month later it was in the public eye again when officers discovered a prisoner had somehow obtained Allen keys and was hiding them in his cell.

In March a Chronicle investigation revealed prisoners were waiting up to one year to receive drug and alcohol rehabilitation due to a shortage of staff.

That prompted Maryborough MP Chris Foley to table a Question on Notice in parliament to the Minister of Police, Corrective and Emergency Services as to whether additional assistance would be provided to the prison.

“A one-year wait for rehabilitation is absolutely too long. The sooner people get help to overcome their addiction the better.”

But perhaps the worst scandal of all was late last month when two intoxicated prisoners climbed on to the roof of a residential unit and refused to come down for more than five hours.

General manager Trevor Craig has maintained the Maryborough Correctional Centre is one of the safest in the country.

“I have been working in the prison system for 26 years and I believe our system of detection and prevention is as good as, if not better than, any other in Australia.”

“In my opinion, working in this prison is one of the safest occupations you can get.”